About

Ellen Watters Sullivan is the author of a memoir, I Once Was Lost, How I Got Found, about her life growing up in Civil Rights-era South. In it she recounts her discoveries about her ancestors going back to the Civil War and beyond:

The story of my family is the story of the South.

It’s a long story. The many twists and turns, and all the people involved made it hard to sort out the heroes from the villains.

It’s a complicated story. Started with me and my father and my Georgia childhood but soon became a story of pioneers, slaves, Cherokee and Indian wars; circuit riding preachers spreading "The Word"; Dahlonega gold mines, the Trail of Tears, and Indian mounds; General Sherman and the Civil War; Colonel Watters and his ten confederate soldier sons --- my ancestors connected to all of this and more. The story of my family is the Epic of the South.